Children who play video games in moderation are less aggressive, more sociable, have fewer emotional problems and do better at school than their peers, research by the University of Oxford suggests.
Those playing video games for more than three hours a day, however, are hyperactive, get into fights and switch off at school, no matter what the type of game. The groundbreaking study suggested that excessive use, rather than any particular game, did the most damage.
Children who played less than an hour a day performed and behaved better than classmates who never used video games, according to

Almost two fifths of new teachers quit within a year of qualifying as they find the job too demanding, a union leader said yesterday. Teachers face so much pressure and work such long hours that thousands of newly trained recruits opt to leave, she said.
Mary Bousted, general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, also said that more teachers were leaving the profession mid-career.
The drop-out rate for new teachers within their first year had risen from 20 per cent in 2005 to 38 per cent in 2011, the latest year for which figures are available, she said — almost 11,000 teach

A teacher who persuaded a 16-year-old girl to sign a “slave contract” agreeing
to have sex with him has been banned from the profession for life.
Kelvin Loraine, 31, groomed the girl over the internet then drove from his
home in Durham to Plymouth to have sex in a hotel room.
Loraine told police he knew that the girl was 15 when he first contacted her
and waited until after her 16th birthday before having sex with her.
A disciplinary hearing of the National College for Teaching and Leadership
(NCTL) found Loraine guilty of misconduct and imposed the lifetime ban
without t

A head teacher urged schools to ignore their new duty to promote British values, saying these had been poorly defined and clumsily enforced.
Robin Bevan, head teacher of Southend High School for Boys, Essex, said the duty was unnecessary as schools must already have a broad and balanced curriculum and develop spiritual and culture understanding.
A future right-wing government or a coalition with Ukip might misuse the requirement in a divisive way on issues such as immigration, he said.
Dr Bevan introduced a motion criticising the renewed focus on British values in schools at the conference of